Arroz con Pollo...a tastebud trip to Puerto Rico

arroz con pollo

Tonight we took a culinary journey to Puerto Rico :)

I made arroz con pollo and it was delicious! I was tired of pasta and decided that I wanted to spice things up with some latin flavors...this really hit the spot.

Arroz con Pollo

2-3 chicken breasts cubed

1/2 an onion and yellow pepper chopped

2 cloves garlic finely diced

1 tsp white pepper

1 1/2 tsp cumin

5 threads saffron

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (peperonchino) or more if you like it spicy

1 1/2 cups rice (I used jasmine)

3 cups stock

1 c frozen peas

salt to taste (stock already has some but I like to add more)

1 lemon sliced (to finish at the end if desired

**saute chicken and veggies in a pan w/ some olive oil. Add in veggies with the exception of the peas then add in all spices except saffron and cook in the oil with the chicken and veggies to develop their flavor. Once veggies are soft and the chicken is opaque, add in the rice and let toast for about 2 minutes. Add in the broth and the saffron and let boil uncovered on med high heat for about 10 min or until the water is almost absorbed and the rice is just al dente (may take longer depending on your rice.) Once the rice reaches this point, add in the peas and cover and take off the heat. Let it rest for about 10 min. Open and serve with a lemon spritz over the top. Would also be wonderful with some chopped cilantro or parsley over the top.

This was an original recipe I came up with after looking over several recipes online and seeing what I had available in my kitchen. Please feel free to modify it to your specific tastes, etc. This would prob also be great with beef instead or with bacon added for extra flavor! Hope you like and try it :)
J

Another trip to Italy, via Oceanview :)

chicken artichoke pasta Marsala sauce

Wednesday night dinner was chicken in a marsala sauce with tarragon and artichokes. I recently discovered frozen artichokes and they are my new favorite frozen ingredient! Frozen artichokes have a much cleaner and fresher flavor then their canned or jarred cousins and though fresh artichokes are probably ideal, I personally find them to be too much of a pain to boil and prep! Also, at $2+ apiece, they are not affordable for my budget. Frozen artichoke hearts are only about $3.5 a box at my grocery store and have the equivalent of about 5 artichokes so I consider them to be a great purchase for the money.

The sauce was super easy to prepare...just seasoned the chicken breasts with granulated garlic, salt and pepper then sauteed them in a pan with some olive oil. I took the chicken out when it was almost done and added about 3/4 c of chicken stock and 1/2 c marsala to the pan. I let these reduce for about 5 minutes then added the artichokes and some fresh tarragon (parsley would have also worked great) and covered the pan so that the artichokes would heat through. To finish the sauce I added in the chicken to help it finish cooking then took the chicken and the artichokes out of the sauce, added a little butter and put the cooked linguine into the sauce (add some pasta water if the sauce gets too dry). I topped each plate with chicken, artichokes and a little fresh tarragon then finished the plates with grated parm.

ENJOY!

Pasta, salmon and salad....yum!

salmon salad pasta bechamel prosciutto

Tuesday night dinner was prob enough for 2 meals but since I wanted to make pasta and had some salmon I needed to use, I decided to make it one meal in 2 parts. Part 1: wild salmon marinated with tarragon and dijon over a tomato, feta and cucumber salad (tomatoes and cucumbers courtesy of T and D). The dressing was a simple evoo and red wine vinegar dressing with a little salt; simple but delicious

Part 2: Pesto ravioli with a prosciutto bechamel and a homemade tomato sauce. The ravioli I bought at FarmFresh and was really good. I especially loved the big chunks of pine nuts studded throughout the pasta. To the bechamel I added a little prosciutto I had sauteed in a little butter then deglazed the saute pan with chicken stock. I let this reduce then added the prosciutto and fond liquid to the bechamel...the fond liquid added a great flavor to the sauce and reminded me of a Caruso sauce without the mushrooms. This sauce is a classic in Uruguay (and perhaps Argentina) and was really delish. The tomato sauce was a classic tomato, garlic and basil sauce (recipe courtesy of my Italian friend LL). Finished the pasta with some fresh grated parmesiano regiano (the undisputed king of cheeses :) and since the meal was already so substantial, we didn't have bread to accompany. Hope you like the pics and that they inspire you to cook Italian tonight

J